Oh, The Bachelorette. What nonsense! These episodes always end on a cliffhanger, and then pick back up with all the drama the following week. Which meant that we were still dealing with the Clint and J.J. stuff this week.

Kaitlyn confronted Clint about what the guys had been saying about him, they argued and she sent him home. But before he left, he tried to get J.J. to back him up, and he didn’t. LOL! Some BFF. They had a very strange fight, where they said mean things to each other with their faces about three inches apart.

I assume that 99% of this is fake, so it’s impossible to care. Clint’s an idiot. J.J.’s an idiot. One of them is gone now. Clint was actually the only guy to leave, because Kaitlyn cancelled the rose ceremony.

This week on The Bachelorette, we picked up where we’d left off: Kupah getting bizarrely angry and being told to leave. It was so weird! They had a big fight, and then he didn’t want to leave. Was it just out of pride? Just hit the road! It didn’t work out!

With that, it was on to the rose ceremony. It’s too early to tell most of these people apart. But naturally, the villain (J.J.) and the weirdo (Tony) made it through. Thank goodness for producers’ picks!

“I see the world through the eyes of a child, I have the heart of a warrior, and a gypsy soul.”

Date #1: Sumo Wrestling

ANOTHER violence-based date? Geez! Do we have to? I liked the one guy who was like “I love Japanese culture….I like sushi! I don’t know anything about sumo…but I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Um, OK. I feel like you need to know at least ONE other Japanese thing, other than sushi, to be able to say you love Japanese culture.

Tony was NOT down with another aggressive “date”, and he let Kaitlyn know. He told her, as he told us, that he views the world through the eyes of a child and has the heart of a warrior and the soul of a gypsy! Geez!

Kaitlyn felt bad that Tony was upset, but was also feeling defensive about her date choices. The other guys all reassured her that, no, this is super fun! Ugh, this show and these people are the worst. Tony is a weirdo and this date is stupid!

In the middle of a serious conversation about how angry Tony was, he spit. Ew! That’s a deal-breaker for me. I would have sent him home right then and there. Ian was around during the conversation – so far, he’s coming across well.

Tony decided to go home, because this is OBVIOUSLY not for him. The show, Kaitlyn, the outside world…

Kaitlyn gave the date rose to Cory. Clint won the silly sumo competition, but lost Kaitlyn’s interest by being too quiet during the date. Didn’t matter! Clint isn’t here for Kaitlyn, here’s here for someone else…

Date #2 – Courtesy of Chris Harrison

Chris Harrison planned the second date of the episode for Kaitlyn and Ben Z. (It always sounds like Kaitlyn is calling him Benzie, which is now what I will call him.) The date was an escape room – now THIS is a date! I’ve actually done a room escape challenge before, with a group of my husband’s coworkers, and it was so much fun. I didn’t understand why Kaitlyn was so scared, until I saw the pigeons. Pigeons are disgusting.

I will say, this had more of a haunted house vibe than the room escape I did. Mine was more history based, you just searched through a steampunk-style room for clues. But the hysteria was grossly exaggerated. I mean, you’re on TV. It’s all fake. They can’t let you die.

After the horror show, Kaitlyn and Benzie went back to her place to order pizza. Ben told Kaitlyn more about what it was like when his mom died, and it seemed like a pretty genuine conversation. They moved on to champagne in the hot tub, and Kaitlyn gave Benzie the rose.

Date #3 – Sex Ed

Another stupid group date! The guys were teaching sex ed to a bunch of kids. It was painfully awkward and included a lot of bleeps. The kids were actually actors, but it was still super uncomfortable.

Kaitlyn had pretty long conversation with Ben H., Jared and Joshua, and ended up giving the rose to Ben.

Brokeback Bachelor + Rose Ceremony

The stuff with Clint and J.J. was so LOL. What are they even implying? Is this all a set up? I can’t handle it.

Clint was the first to pull Kaitlyn aside at the cocktail party, because he wants to stick around to hang out with J.J.

“I was wearing my power socks, so I felt like I had the power and I had to abuse it.”

What does THAT even mean? Power socks? Why are Clint and J.J. so mean when they talk about everyone else? I assume they’re both just there to play the villain and get the most screen time.

The show was another cliffhanger, with Kaitlyn about to set another jerk loose.

Yes, yes, I am writing about The Bachelorette again this season. I caught up on the first two (TWO!) episodes when I returned home this weekend, albeit in a rather antibiotics-induced state of exhaustion. All the guys always look the same to me on the first night, but this was a new low.

The first episode focused on the Britt vs. Kaitlyn showdown, which was super uncomfy. I was glad that Kaitlyn won because I think she’ll make for better TV, but the whole competition was just icky.

Britt obviously thought she’d be the bachelorette, and was crushed that she wasn’t chosen. This week, the show followed up with her tearfully calling her mom from the hotel room. Then, a knock on the door! Gee, what good timing. It was Brady, a guy who’d been way into Britt and left the rose ceremony to chase after her. At the end of the episode, we saw that Britt and Brady had already been boyfriend and girlfriend for a whole week! I mean, that’s longer than a lot of other Bachelor-universe relationships.

Group Date #1 – Knockout

These early group dates are always so lame. For the first one, a group of guys met up with Kaitlyn for some boxing lessons and sparring matches. Ugh, why must The Bachelorette always include one instance of using physical violence to win a woman? Wrestling, boxing, etc. It’s so archaic. But this is The Bachelorette, I should expect nothing more. I fast-forwarded through the fighting.

Afterwards, Kaitlyn had conversations with a bunch of the guys, including one who’d had to go to the hospital after the boxing matches. Great. Cool. Ugh. Ben got the date rose.

Date #2 – Under The Sea

Kaitlyn picked Clint for the first one-on-one date. He seems like a fun guy – he presented Kaitlyn with hilarious drawing of Chris Harrison riding a dinosaur on the first night.

Kaitlyn and Clint did an underwater photoshoot for their date – you know, as one usually does. Pretty typical. The photos were…not great? I mean, they’re not professional models and they were under-freakin-water. Kaitlyn obviously likes Clint a lot, and gave him a rose.

Back at the house, Tony was rubbing a lot of guys the wrong way. That guy is weird – there’s always one, right?

Date #3 – Laughable

The next group date involved Amy Schumer and a comedy club. Ha! Can you imagine if Amy Schumer had had to hang out with Britt? I can’t imagine those two having anything in common.

Amy Schumer had great things to say about JJ – “He’s just missing charisma, humility, and a sense of humor…maybe when he sees the show he’ll reflect on himself and not be such a turd.” Haha! Can Amy provide color commentary every week, please? She nailed it.

I don’t like comedy club dates, but at least it provides more opportunity to show personality than a boxing date. Chris the Dentist was pretty funny, and ALSO showed humility by making jokes about how not funny he is.

Tony, meanwhile, told the camera that he felt like he’d been training for this his whole life. His set was just a lengthy speech, which did not include a single joke.

Kaitlyn bonded with Joe “Well I’ll Be” Kentucky, who told her that he didn’t even talk to Britt and would’ve tried to pursue her even if she weren’t the bachelorette. That’s the way to a bachelorette’s heart! But, she gave the rose to obnoxious JJ, the guy Amy Schumer hated, who won her over by talking about his daughter. JJ was most pleased about receiving the rose because it would allow him to watch all the guys suffer during the rose ceremony.

Rose Ceremony

As soon as the rose ceremony began, JJ grabbed Kaitlyn for a private conversation. There’s a great way to make some enemies! If I were Kaitlyn, I would have just said no.

Kaitlyn chatted with Ian before the rose ceremony, and learned about the accident he was in that left him pretty battered. I like Ian, even though we haven’t seen much of him yet.

Kaitlyn had an awkward conversation with Kupah, who basically approached her to discuss whether he was being kept around as a token minority. Ooof. It was an uncomfortable conversation, but a totally fair thing to be concerned about. It seemed like Kaitlyn felt kind of attacked, and she said she’d felt a connection with him early on but didn’t anymore. Yikes.

As soon as his conversation with Kaitlyn was done, Kupah recapped it for the other guys. Kaitlyn could hear every word. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to let you go,” Kaitlyn told him. How very Donald Trump! It was like she was firing him. He was pissed and said he didn’t want to go home because “I think you’re hot.” Uggghhh, ouch, buddy. That’s not how you win a lady back.

We got a total crap “to be continued”, showing Kupah getting really angry over being booted off the show. Ugh, seriously? You had TWO HOURS Bachelorette. You could have fit everything in.

I was away for work when the season finale of Survivor aired, so I didn’t see it until Friday night. I wasn’t in best form, either – I got sick while I was away and had a pretty rough journey back from The Bahamas to Halifax. This weekend I was in no condition to be blogging!

Still, I couldn’t let a season of Survivor go by without at least briefly weighing in on the finale. By now, you all know that Mike won. Personally, I think it was well-deserved. He was on the bottom week after week, and won his way into the finals. I’ve got to respect the guy for that. Remember how hard he searched for the Hidden Immunity Idol? The guy didn’t always play well, but he played hard.

I was surprised by how few votes Carolyn got. I was pretty sure Mike would win no matter what, but I thought he was making the vote unnecessarily close by bringing her along. (She almost didn’t make the finale, though, since both Carolyn and Rodney botched their fire-making challenge. What the hell was that? Humiliating.)

All in all, though, this was a pretty terrible season of Survivor. Dan, Will and Rodney were three of the most truly unlikable players I’ve ever encountered. Not only were they all just downright bad people, but they sucked at the game. Give me a villain who backstabs and lies, not one who berates women.

The only really likable player from this season was Joe. I grew to like Shirin, but there’s no doubt that she’s a talkative, irritating presence in camp. It’ll be interesting to see them both play again.

I loved Dan getting taken to task by Probst at the Reunion Show (naturally, Probst angrier about Dan badmouthing the show than he was about Dan badmouthing his fellow tribemates all season long), but it was also a bit exhausting. Dan, Will and Rodney have not seen the error of their ways. They don’t understand that the remarks they made were unacceptable, regardless of context. They will never get it, so listening to them talk is infuriating.

After only forty minutes, Probst kicked this cast to the curb in favor of revealing our returning players for next season. They were eager to move on from one of the worst casts of all time. Will the next set be any better?

As I said, Joe and Shirin will get to play again. Mike won, so he’s not getting a “second chance”. Carolyn didn’t get enough votes, and she sure looked mad. I don’t think Carolyn seems very nice, but I wouldn’t have hated getting to see her play again.

There are some people I’m definitely excited to see play again. Kelly Wigglesworth from season one? Yes! I was thrilled she made it through. It will be fun to see “old school” players compete in a “new school” game. She was a monster in challenges 15 years ago, how will she do now?

I’m less thrilled to see Kimmi from season two return. She was so annoying that I have not forgotten her, and I’d forgotten a lot of the players from the early years. Another couple people I could do without are Kass and Abi-Maria.

I’m glad Stephen Fishbach is playing again because I thought he was robbed back in Tocantins, but he might fall victim to the same targeting that kept Rob Cesternino and Cirie Fields from winning when they returned. It’s hard to get very far when you’re considered a big strategic threat.

Vytas, Spencer, Tasha and Ciera are all players from more recent seasons that I remember well – either for being likable, exciting, strategic. I hope they go far in the game. I also remember that I had Kelly Wentworth in the Survivor pool and thought she seemed great, but was voted out too soon.

What did you guys think of the finale? Were you satisfied? What do you think of the new cast? Sound off in the comments!

Last night, the much-anticipated series finale aired. I was so eager to see it that I stayed up past midnight to watch, despite having a very early morning flight to catch.

The previous two episodes to the finale were outstanding, and provided a lot of scenes with main characters that could easily have been their last. Betty’s letter to Sally, Joan exiting with her Rolodex, Peggy entering like a rock star. But it would have been so unsatisfying to never see them again.Continue reading →

Last fall, I didn’t watch The Amazing Race. I’d gotten tired of the show after a few poor seasons, and felt no motivation to catch up after missing weeks while on vacation. But I’d heard it was a better season than ones past, and decided to return for this installment.

I was suspicious of the “blind date” twist, because I didn’t want this show to become The Bachelor. I had no reason to fear – in fact, this ended up being one of my favorite seasons in a while. The teams were great. There were a few that I really rooted for, and a couple that I really rooted against. It was actually fun to watch longstanding couples compete against total strangers. My only complaint was that the cast wasn’t as diverse, in terms of age and abilities, as usual – it was pretty much young, fit people.

The four teams that entered the final episode were good ones to watch compete. We had the villains, Hayley and Blair. Blair was pretty patient over the course of the race, but Hayley was a total nightmare. Nagging, whiney, delusional and just plain rude. She was CONSTANTLY screeching at Blair and making everything his fault. I absolutely did not want that woman to win half a million dollars.

Then there was Jenny and Jelani. I wouldn’t have been furious if they won, like I would have with Hayley and Blair. But I wouldn’t have been planning a parade in their honor, either. Despite what they said at the end of the race, they really did not seem to get along that well. They bickered a lot, and so I didn’t really root for them.

I loved Mike and Rochelle – the only established couple to make the final episode. They were a longshot to make the final three, let alone win. I wasn’t surprised when Phil eliminated them, but I was rooting for them nonetheless. They seem like such a good fit together, and Mike was such a supportive partner.

The couple I really, really wanted to win was Tyler and Laura. I’d liked them from the start, and came to like them more and more as the race went on. They both seemed to have great personalities and senses of humor, they competed well, and they appeared to develop a pretty genuine friendship. I loved how they always laughed off Phil’s questions about romance, and made fun of the other couples that I didn’t like. (Hayley and Blair for their fighting and general horribleness, and Jackie and Jeff for being that overly affectionate couple we all know and hate.)

I was so psyched that they won! What sweet justice, that Hayley made a crucial error that caused her and Blair to lose the race. She spent the whole thing criticizing him, and now she has to live with the fact that their loss rests solely on her shoulders. What just desserts.

Hayley’s blunder opened the door for one of the other two teams, who were neck-and-neck, to take the lead. Jenny and Jelani managed to solve their combination lock test quicker, but Laura and Tyler excelled when it came to placing their selfies from the race in chronological order. They stayed focused and didn’t bicker, and they worked as a team to solve the challenge quickly. Their patience, focus and team chemistry is what set them apart from other teams all along, so I’m glad it was what helped them win in the end.

I’m dying to know what Hayley thinks about her behavior and portrayal on the show. Will she own up to her flaws, or blame editing? (Or blame Blair.) I’ll certainly be reading some post-race interviews.

Thank goodness, this season of Survivor is almost over. Before I get into the review, a quick note: I’ll be traveling for work next week, so I won’t be watching the Survivor finale until later. I know! Good thing I barely care about this season. And, my work trip is in The Bahamas so, you know, I can’t really complain. I know, I know, you must all really pity me.

OK, click through if you watched this week’s episode – spoilers ahead!